New in Theaters August 30: Lawless and The Possession
By Chris Kavan - 08/30/12 at 06:32 PM CT
Well, last week wasn't a banner week for Hollywood. In fact, other than a conservative documentary making waves, almost everything was a complete disaster, including all three of the new releases, none of which could crack the top five (and one didn't even hit the top 10). Hopefully this Labor Day weekend will bring some better news - there is another horror film that looks to do much better than last week's Apparition and an all-star cast leads a Depression-era, boot-legging action/drama.
Unsurprisingly this weekend, box office success or demise will likely fall upon Lawless. An outstanding cast, including Dark Knight Rises pals Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman (along with names such as Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Guy Pierce and Mia Wasikowska) will try to bring the Depression era to life with this tale of a bootlegging family vs. the new sheriff in town. But there is also local competition, not to mention the encroaching mob, to deal with as well. All in all, it sounds like there will be plenty of shooting, probably more than a few deaths, and a lot of hard looks between the cast. While I can't say this hasn't been done before, I think this looks a touch better than a lot of these "gangster" type films (for lack of a better description). Certainly, on the shoulders of the talent alone this should be the top draw, easily beating out The Expendables 2. However, this is a heavy travel weekend, so the final take is going to be determined by how many people stay in and are interested in heading out to the theater.
After The Apparition completely crashed and burned last week (no thanks to the studio, who obviously didn't give it any support) this week's monster-in-the-box is The Possession. Based (loosely) on a real event involving an actual object (this original story itself has been questioned), I'm sure The Possession will make things much more horrific and outlandish than anything that could have possibly happened to regular old folks. This is one of those movies I would skim Netflix for and watch on a whim, but I can't see myself actually sitting down in a theater to enjoy this. Maybe if it was closer to Halloween... anyway, if audiences are still hungry for a decent horror film, this could still manage a decent debut. Surely it helps that Sam Raimi helped produce this, it give me somewhat of a hope anyway.
So, anyone whose going to take it easy and stay at home this weekend at least has a couple of options. I have no doubt Lawless will take the top spot, but whether it will open to stellar or middling results remains to be seen - I'll be back Monday (due to the holiday) with your results.
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